A Brentwood man has been formally charged days after his arrest for stealing an SUV while a toddler was in the vehicle.
According to the Brentwood Police Department’s probable cause statement, the SUV was stolen from a Mobil gas station at 2120 S. Brentwood Boulevard just after 4 a.m. on May 9. A two-year-old child was inside. The child was found safe half an hour later on the front lawn of a home in the 8400 block of University Drive in Clayton.
The mother told police she left the SUV running to make a purchase inside the gas station. She returned to discover her vehicle had been stolen.
Gas station security video showed a man wearing a mask and gloves taking the SUV. Investigators also saw neighborhood surveillance showing the suspect abandoning the child and driving away.
The stolen SUV was found in the parking lot of a Super 8 hotel in Pevely. Security video purportedly shows the same person driving the SUV as seen at the gas station and in the Clayton neighborhood.
On May 10, police arrested Stephen A. Dunn in connection with the crimes.
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Dunn child kidnapping, stealing a motor vehicle, and first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Dunn remains jailed on a $300,000 cash-only bond. He’s due in court on May 20 for a bond reduction hearing.